Page 151 of The Home Game

Matty grinned. Morrison had been kind of a dick about Haler last season so Matty had personally enjoyed flattening him tonight.

“Hey, it’s not my fault you can’t handle all this …” Matty chirped back.

Morrison snorted and skated away, shaking his head.

The teams battled back and forth for a few minutes before Jensen got ahold of the puck. He swooped behind the Lynx’s net and wrapped the puck around but it went off the skate of one of the Lynx’s defensemen clogging up the net.

Jensen snagged it again, shooting it through traffic to Matty who settled the puck down and fired it across the ice to Colton.

One of the Lynx’s players snagged it and they played keep-away for a few minutes. Spotting an opportunity to change, Matty and Nico hopped over the boards, and Jonah and Felix went out to take their place.

On the bench, Matty watched intently as the teams battled, the Fisher Cats gaining possession before losing it again.

When they got the puck back, there was too much traffic to see the net clearly but Jordan whacked away at the disc until it finally went in. His arms and stick went up in celebration and even halfway across the ice Matty could hear his shout of triumph.

Grinning, Matty hollered his own appreciation, watching Jordan’s celly and the way the guys flooded around him to celebrate.

“Jord-y, Jord-y!” Matty chanted as he held out his fist for Jordan to bump as he flew past the bench, grinning widely.

Unfortunately, the Lynx quickly retaliated and after they tied it at 3-3, the game grew increasingly more desperate.

“Come on,” Matty muttered around his mouthguard as he poked at the puck, trying to get it to go in the fucking net behind Montreal’s goalie. “Go in, you fucker.”

But he got no love and during the next TV time-out, he was sweaty and frustrated as he skated over to the bench and squirted some water down the back of his neck.

“Showing off for your man, huh?” Nico teased.

Matty grinned and shot Nico in the face with a blast of water.

Sputtering, Nico laughed.

“Arents, Carlson, cut it out!” Gilly hollered.

Matty glanced over. “Seriously? We’re just having a bit of fun and the fans love it.”

Gilly pursed his lips. “What have I told you, Carlson? The only response I want from you is, “Yes, Gilly!”

“Yes, Gilly,” Matty dutifully parroted.

He tucked his water bottle into the rack on the bench, then skated away, but not before he caught a subtle sympathetic eye roll from Dom.

Good.

Maybe that was how Matty could fix shit with Dom. Bonding over Gilly being a dick. Right now, Matty would take whatever he could get.

But his annoyed mood quickly lifted as he caught a glimpse of Antoni talking animatedly to some of the SAPs, River sitting on August’s lap, Eli craning their neck to look around, and Jonah’s grandma, Ji-Min, in deep discussion with Alexis about something.

That sight made Matty even more determined.

They had eleven minutes to go in this game and Matty had to get a win for his family somehow.

He had to.

As the final five minutes of the game approached, Antoni was at the edge of his seat holding Reese.

River had gotten restless, so Kayla had taken her for a walk along with her little one so Antoni didn’t have to miss a second of the game.

The Fisher Cats and Lynx were still tied 3-3 and Antoni chewed his lip as he watched Matty smash a guy into the side of the rink—the boards, according to Charlie.

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